Control of consecutive packet loss in a packet buffer

A circuit and method provides for optimal packet dropping to directly control consecutive packet loss (also called "average packet gap") in a packet buffer. The circuit and method can be used in a packet switched system having either a single packet class or multiple packet classes. The invention can be used at any point of the packet switched system, e.g., source buffers, switching node buffers, and destination buffers. A detailed proof shows that depending on configuration, the packet dropping policy is optimal for either minimizing or maximizing the average packet gap. More generally, the circuit and method can be used for controlling the source gaps created in any service system with a finite buffer. When a subset of customers from an ordered sequence of customers must be denied service due to to system overflow.